Russborough Rubens and Other Works Back on the Block

It looks like the on-again-off-again sale of pictures from Russborough House and the Beit Foundation may be back on again, according to the Irish Times. The foundation provoked outrage when it tried to sell works through Christie’s earlier this month. A compromise was meant to have been reached but it appears the deal is falling short:

the foundation believes the funds raised will only cover about half of the €15 million needed to secure Russborough’s future.

A private donor, whose identity has not been revealed, has given a firm commitment to buy one Rubens painting and discussions are continuing about three other pictures. Against this background, the foundation believes it may have to reconsider auctioning some paintings and is due to meet Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys next week to discuss the development. The paintings under discussion are Head of a Bearded Man by Rubens and Venus Supplicating Jupiter by the same artist, along with a depiction of 17th-century Flemish village festivities by David Teniers the Younger and a work by Adrien van Ostade.